System of setting peripheral device and control method

ABSTRACT

A multifunction peripheral includes means for receiving a request from a multifunction peripheral management service, means for enabling a function in the multifunction peripheral in accordance with the request, and means for transmitting a result of the request as a response to the multifunction peripheral management service.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of International Patent ApplicationNo. PCT/JP2018/038414, filed Oct. 16, 2018, which claims the benefit ofJapanese Patent Application No. 2017-207440, filed Oct. 26, 2017, bothof which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a printing system and the like thatsupports an agent function.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, operations of electronic devices such as multifunctionperipherals have become complicated with the advancement of functions.As a result, a user is forced to understand a complicated userinterface, and an increasing burden is imposed on the user. To handlethe above situation, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2014-222513 hasproposed a interactive agent that can be instructed and operated in anatural language.

In recent years, mobile terminals such as smartphones have becomewidespread, and various functions have been proposed in which a mobileterminal and a multifunction peripheral operate in cooperation. It isknown to provide a function to connect wirelessly between a mobileterminal and a multifunction peripheral.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In a function of operating a mobile terminal and a peripheral device incooperation with each other, a user needs to separately operate each ofthe multifunction peripheral and the mobile terminal. Peripheral devicesand mobile terminals often have their own user interfaces. Thus, usersneed to learn much about them, which may be burdensome to the users. Forexample, there is a problem that even if a user looks at a manual of aperipheral device, enormous information makes it difficult to findnecessary information. There is also a problem that it is difficult fora user to specify a parameter necessary for setting a device.

The present invention has been made in view of at least one of the aboveproblems. A first object of the present invention is to provide amechanism for effectively and efficiently realizing a cooperationbetween a mobile terminal and a peripheral device. Another object of thepresent invention is to effectively provide an interactive interface toa user for allowing it to perform a setting procedure to realize acooperation between a mobile terminal and a peripheral device.

A system capable of communicating with a peripheral device andconfigured to provide a setting service of performing a setting processon the peripheral device, the system comprising, identifying meansconfigured to identify, in input natural language information, aparticular setting information to be set in the peripheral device,response means configured such that in a case where the particularsetting information to be set in the peripheral device is not identifiedin the natural language information, the response means responds in anatural language to an interactive agent program to obtain theunidentified setting information, acquisition means configured to, afterthe response in the natural language given by the response means isoutput from the interactive agent program, acquire information based onthe natural language information input to the interactive agent program,discrimination means configured to discriminate, based on theinformation acquired by the acquisition means, the setting informationunidentified by the identifying means, and input means configured toinput the information identified by the identifying means and theinformation discriminated by the discrimination means to the settingservice of the peripheral device.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a manner of operating amobile terminal and a multifunction peripheral to make a wireless directconnection.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configurationof a multifunction peripheral according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a software configurationof a multifunction peripheral according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation panel of amultifunction peripheral according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an of a network accordingto an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a sequence according toan embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a registered content ofan action according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation of aninteractive agent according to an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of data of a wireless directfunction start request to connect a multifunction peripheral accordingto an embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of data of a wirelessdirect function start request according to an embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of data of a wirelessdirect function start response according to an embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of data of a wirelessdirect function start request to connect a multifunction peripheralaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating a process performed by amultifunction peripheral according to an embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of data of a wirelessdirect function start response according to an embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of data of a wirelessdirect function start response according to an embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen for setting aninteractive agent output method according to an embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of data of a wirelessdirect function start response 605 according to an embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a process related toa multifunction peripheral management service according to anembodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be describedbelow with reference to the drawings.

In the following description, embodiments will be described, by way ofexample, for a case where the invention is applied to a multifunctionperipheral. Note that the present invention is a technique applicablenot only to the multifunction peripheral but to many other informationprocessing apparatuses.

Note that the scope of the present invention is not limited by theembodiments described below, and a combination of all features describedin the embodiments described below does not necessarily need toimplement the present invention.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a manner of operating amobile terminal 150 and a multifunction peripheral 100 to make awireless direct connection.

First, a user operates an operation panel 405 of the multifunctionperipheral to input an instruction to display a mobile cooperationscreen. In response, a mobile cooperation screen 101 is displayed on theoperation panel 405. On the mobile cooperation screen 101, a LANconnection button for performing LAN connection setting and a directconnection button for performing direct connection setting aredisplayed. The user presses the direct connection button to displaydirect connection settings. When the user presses a start button on thedirect connection setting screen, a wireless direct connection functionis started. When the wireless direct connection is started, an SSID anda network key are displayed on the mobile cooperation screen 102 of themultifunction peripheral.

Next, the user operates the mobile terminal 150 to display a settingscreen 111. On the setting screen 111, a Wi-Fi button for performingWi-Fi setting is displayed. The user presses a Wi-Fi setting to displaythe Wi-Fi setting. On a Wi-Fi setting screen 112, SSIDs of nearby accesspoints detected as a result of searching are searched displayed in theform of a list. When the user selects an SSID of the multifunctionperipheral, a password input screen 113 is displayed. The user inputs,as a password, a network key displayed on the mobile cooperation screen102. As a result, the mobile terminal 150 is wirelessly connecteddirectly to the multifunction peripheral 100.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of themultifunction peripheral 100, in the present embodiment, by way ofexample, the multifunction peripheral 100 is assumed to be amultifunction peripheral, but the multifunction peripheral 100 may be amultifunction peripheral which does not have a scanner function.

A CPU 201 reads out a control program stored in a ROM 203 and executesvarious processes for controlling an operation of the multifunctionperipheral 100. The ROM 203 stores the control program. A RAM 202 isused by the CPU 201 as a temporary storage area such as a main memory, awork area, or the like. An HDD 204 stores various data such as printdata, scan images, and/or the like.

In the case of the multifunction peripheral 100, one CPU 201 executeseach process shown in a flow chart described later, but the manner ofexecuting processes is not limited to this example. For example, aplurality of CPUs may operate in cooperation to execute each processshown in a flow chart described later.

A printer unit 103 executes a printing process on a sheet based on printdata received, via a printer unit I/F 206, from an external apparatus,or based on a scanned image generated by a scanner unit 104, or thelike. The scanner unit 104 reads a document via a scanner unit I/F 207and generates a scanned image (read image data). The scanned imagegenerated by the scanner unit 104 is printed by the printer unit 103.The scanned image is also stored in the HDD 204.

An operation unit 102 includes a liquid crystal display unit having atouch panel function and a keyboard, and displays various images. Theuser can input an instruction and information to the multifunctionperipheral 100 via the operation unit 102. The operation unit 102 isconnected to a controller unit 101 via an operation unit I/F 208.

A wired LAN interface unit 210 executes a wired LAN communication withan external apparatus via a wired LAN device 106.

A wireless LAN interface unit 209 executes a wireless LAN communicationwith an external apparatus such as an access point 110 via a wirelessLAN device 105.

Blocks in the controller unit 101 are connected to each other via asystem bus 205.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a software configuration of themultifunction peripheral 100. Each functional unit illustrated in FIG. 3is realized by the CPU 201 of the multifunction peripheral 100 byexecuting a control program.

An operation control unit 300 controls the operation unit 102. Theoperation control unit 300 displays an operation menu on the operationunit 102 and waits for an instruction to be input by the user. A contentof the received instruction is notified to another functional unit, andan instruction result is displayed on the operation unit 102.

A wireless direct control unit 301 performs wireless directcommunication control.

A wireless LAN control unit 302 controls connection, disconnection, andcommunication of the wireless LAN.

A wired LAN control unit 303 controls connection, disconnection, andcommunication of the wired LAN.

An HTTP communication control unit 304 performs XMPP communicationcontrol.

The storage control unit 310 stores specified data in the ROM 203 or theHDD 204, or reads out the stored data, according to an instruction fromanother functional unit. Examples of data managed by the storage controlunit 305 include data related to IP address setting and proxy setting ofthe multifunction peripheral 100.

An image processing unit 311 performs a process of rendering a print jobinto image data for printing.

The printing process unit 312 performs a process of transmitting theimage data rendered by the image processing unit 311 as an image signalto the printer unit 103 via the printer unit I/F 206 and printing theimage data.

The TCP/IP communication control unit 313 controls TCP/IP communication.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation unit 102 of themultifunction peripheral 100. Reference numeral 405 denotes a displaypanel using an LCD or the like. Reference numeral 401 denotes a buttonwhich is pressed to perform copying using the multifunction peripheral100. When this button is pressed, a copy operation screen is displayedon the display panel 405. Reference numeral 402 denotes a button whichis pressed to perform a facsimile operation using the multifunctionperipheral 100. When this button is pressed, a facsimile operationscreen is displayed on the display panel 405. Reference numeral 403denotes a button which is pressed to perform a scan operation using themultifunction peripheral 100. When this button is pressed, a scanoperation screen is displayed on the display panel 405. Referencenumeral 404 denotes a button which is pressed to perform an operationfor realizing an cooperation between the multifunction peripheral 100and the mobile terminal. When the button 404 is pressed, a mobilecooperation screen is displayed on the display panel 405. A referencenumeral 408 denotes a numeric keypad which is used to input a number andthe like. Reference numeral 407 denotes an OK key, which is used tofinally accept the contents displayed on the display panel 405.Reference numeral 406 denotes an arrow key which is used to select amenu or the like displayed on the display panel 405. Buttons 409 and 410are respectively used to execute black-and-white copying and colorcopying. A button 411 is used to stop processing. A button 412 is usedto display a menu screen for setting the multifunction peripheral 100. Abutton 404 is used to display a menu screen for performing variousoperations related to the mobile cooperation. This button is selected tostart a wireless direct connection.

FIG. 5 is a network diagram for explaining a network configurationaccording to the present embodiment. The mobile terminal 501communicates with a natural language processing and lexical analysisservice 511 via an access point 502. More specifically, the interactiveagent on the mobile terminal 501 receives an operation from the user ina natural language, and transfers it to the natural language processingand lexical analysis service 511. Alternatively, the mobile terminal 501may directly connect to the multifunction peripheral 100 via wirelessdirect communication. The natural language processing and lexicalanalysis service 511 is a service provided on the cloud. When thenatural language processing and lexical analysis service 511 receivesthe operation by the user from the interactive agent on the mobileterminal 501 in the natural language, the natural language processingand lexical analysis service 511 performs natural language processingand analyzes extracted tokens. According to a result, communication isperformed with the multifunction peripheral management service 510,which is a service provided on the cloud. The multifunction peripheralmanagement service 510, which is a service provided on the cloud,communicates with the multifunction peripheral 100 based on thecommunication with the natural language processing and lexical analysisservice 511.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram for explaining a processing sequenceaccording to the present embodiment. When the interactive agent on themobile terminal 501 receives an operation from the user in the naturallanguage, the interactive agent transmits a user operation request 601expressed in the natural language to the natural language processing andlexical analysis service 511 (S6001). The natural language processingand lexical analysis service 511 performs natural language processing onthe user operation request 601 and performs lexical analysis (S6002). Ina case where the result of the analysis does not include allpre-registered information, the natural language processing and lexicalanalysis service 511 transmits a user operation response 602 expressedin the natural language to the mobile terminal 501 (S6002). The mobileterminal 501 and the natural language processing and lexical analysisservice 511 repeat the above-described communication until all necessaryinformation is obtained. When all necessary information is obtained viathe process described above, the natural language processing and lexicalanalysis service 511 sends a wireless direct function start request 603for the connection to the multifunction peripheral to the multifunctionperipheral management service 510 (S6003). In the natural languageprocessing and lexical analysis service 511, necessary information andWebhook which is a process to be executed when all necessary informationis obtained are registered in advance. Webhook provides a mechanism forsending information in an HTTP protocol POST request when an eventoccurs.

That is, the lexical analysis service 511 receives the user operationrequest 601, performs natural language processing, and extractsinformation necessary for the wireless direct function start request603. The lexical analysis service 511 repeats the above-describedprocessing until all information necessary for the wireless directfunction start request 603 is obtained. When all preregisteredinformation necessary for the wireless direct function start request 603is obtained, it is determined that a corresponding event has occurred.In response, Webhook corresponding to the event is activated, and thewireless direct function start request 603 of the multifunctionperipheral is encapsulated in a POST request in the HTTP protocol andtransmitted.

As described above, the wireless direct function start request 603 ofthe multifunction peripheral is realized by the Webhook. When themultifunction peripheral management service 510 receives the wirelessdirect function start request 603 for the connection with themultifunction peripheral from 511, the multifunction peripheralmanagement service 510 transmits a wireless direct function startrequest 604 to the multifunction peripheral 100 (S6004). Thetransmission from the multifunction peripheral management service 510located on the cloud to the multifunction peripheral 100 is performedusing push communication using a protocol such as XMPP. Usually, themultifunction peripheral 100 is located in an intranet, and pushcommunication from the service on the cloud is realized by using pushcommunication using XMPP. When the multifunction peripheral 100 receivesthe wireless direct function start request 604, the multifunctionperipheral 100 starts the wireless direct function of the multifunctionperipheral 100. The multifunction peripheral 100 then returns an SSIDand a network key as a wireless direct function start response 605 tothe multifunction peripheral management service 510 (S6005). Themultifunction peripheral management service 510 sends the SSID and thenetwork key as a wireless direct function start response 606 in thenatural language to the natural language processing and lexical analysisservice 511 (S6006). The natural language processing and lexicalanalysis service 511 sends, to the interactive agent of the mobileterminal 501, wireless direct function start response 607 from themultifunction peripheral represented in the natural language (S6007).

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a content of action registrationaccording to the present embodiment. The action registration isinformation registered in the natural language processing and lexicalanalysis service 511, and includes an entity indicating necessaryinformation and an action defined for a corresponding entity. To allowaction registration, screen information such as that shown in FIG. 7 istransmitted from the natural language processing and lexical analysisservice 511 to a PC (not shown) or the mobile terminal (501). The screeninformation is displayed on the PC or the mobile terminal (501). To makeaction registration, information is input via the screen informationshown in FIG. 7. In response, the information is transmitted from the PCor the mobile terminal (501) to the natural language processing andlexical analysis service 511 and is registered. In the presentembodiment, the entities include “device”, “network”, “method”, and“action”. The entity “device” is information identifying multifunctionperipheral to be operated. Printer1, Printer2, or Printer3 areregistered in advance as multifunction peripherals that can bespecified. The entity “network” identifies a network type to be used.Either a wireless network or a wired network are allowed to be specifiedas the network type. The entity “method” identifies an connectionmethod. Either an infrastructure connection or a direct connection areallowed to be specified as the connection method. The entity “action”identifies an operation. Either connection or disconnection are allowedto be identified as the operation.

In the present embodiment, a connection/disconnection to/from a Webhookprovided at http://print-manage.canon.co.jp is registered as the action.

When the action registration described above is made, and all entitiesof “device”, “network”, “method”, and “action” are provided via thedialogue in S6001 and S6002, an operation is performed as follows. Thatis, an action is executed to transmit the above-described pieces ofinformation to http://print-manage.canon.co.jp using HTTP. This actionis executed by the natural language processing and lexical analysisservice 511. That is, a service described in Webhook can be called usingparameters of “device”, “network”, “method”, and “action” as arguments.The execution timing thereof is when all entities of “device”,“network”, “method”, and “action” are obtained.

In FIG. 8, 8000 shows an example of an operation of an interactive agentaccording to the present embodiment. First, a user downloads a settingapplication or a setting service from a particular server and starts thesetting application or the setting service. Then, the user holds aparticular button down. When the setting application or the servicedetects holding-down of the particular button, the setting applicationor service goes into an interactive mode. While keeping a state in whichthe interactive agent screen is displayed on the mobile terminal 501,the user issues, in 801, a natural language voice instruction to requesta connection with Printer1 via a microphone of the mobile terminal 501.In response, 801 is displayed. Alternatively, the connection requestrepresented in the natural language may be input by performing a keyinput operation on a touch panel of the mobile terminal 501. Inresponse, 801 is displayed. In FIG. 8, reference numerals 801, 803, and805 indicate information input by the user from the mobile terminal 501by a voice or key inputting. 802, 804, 806, and 807 indicate naturallanguage data displayed by the natural language processing and lexicalanalysis service 511 in response to transmission to the settingapplication or the setting service.

The mobile terminal 501 transmits the input natural language data (801)to the natural language processing and lexical analysis service 511. Thenatural language processing and lexical analysis service 511 analyzesthe input data. The natural language processing and lexical analysisservice 511 analyzes the input natural language data. The input naturallanguage data is divided into phrases and words. Thereafter, a noun isextracted from the words. Furthermore, extracted nouns are classifiedinto proper nouns and other nouns. Thereafter, it is determined whether“information for executing an action” registered in FIG. 7 is completelyincluded in the classified entities. The result of the determinationindicates that “information for executing the action” is insufficient.In a case where it is determined that information is insufficient, themobile terminal 501 transmits an inquiry for specifying “network”expressed in a natural language. The interactive agent of the mobileterminal 501 outputs the received inquiry 802.

The user transmits, in 803, a notification in a natural language usingthe interactive agent on the mobile terminal 501 to request a wirelessnetwork as the “network”. The mobile terminal 501 transmits the inputnatural language data to the natural language processing and lexicalanalysis service 511. The natural language processing and lexicalanalysis service 511 analyzes the input data. The result of the analysisindicates that information for executing the action registered in FIG. 7is still insufficient, and thus an inquiry for specifying the “method”expressed in the natural language is transmitted to the mobile terminal501. The interactive agent of the mobile terminal 501 outputs thereceived inquiry 804.

In 805, the user transmits a notification in the natural language usingthe interactive agent on the mobile terminal 501 to request directconnection as “method”. The mobile terminal 501 transmits the inputnatural language data to the natural language processing and lexicalanalysis service 511 (S6001). The natural language processing andlexical analysis service 511 analyzes the input data in a similar manneras described above. If the result of the analysis indicates that allinformation for executing the action registered in FIG. 7 is acquired,the following processing is performed. That is, a wireless directfunction start request 603 for the connection to the multifunctionperipheral is transmitted to the multifunction peripheral managementservice 510 using Webhook (S6003). Note that the multifunctionperipheral management service 510 corresponds to the URL of the Webhook7001 input in FIG. 7. The multifunction peripheral management service510 transmits a wireless direct function start response 606 for theconnection to the multifunction peripheral to the natural languageprocessing and lexical analysis service 511 in accordance with thesequence shown in FIG. 6 (S6006).

The natural language processing and lexical analysis service 511transmits a content of the wireless direct function start response 606for the connection to the multifunction peripheral to the mobileterminal 501 (S6007). The interactive agent of the mobile terminal 501outputs the received response messages 806 and 807.

In the present embodiment described above, it is assumed by way ofexample that outputting is performed by the interactive agent of themobile terminal 501 such that a text is displayed on a screen. However,alternatively, a voice/sound may be output. The text and the voice/soundmay be output simultaneously.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of data of the wireless direct functionstart request 603 for the connection to the multifunction peripheralaccording to the present embodiment. The wireless direct function startrequest 603 for the connection to the multifunction peripheral describedabove with reference to FIG. 6 includes the information defined for theaction described in FIG. 7. More specifically, it includes entityinformation of “device”, “network”, “method”, and “action”. These piecesof information are expressed as data in JavaScript (registeredtrademark) Object Notation (JSON) format. In the present embodiment, thewireless direct function start request 603 is transmitted to themultifunction peripheral management service 510 using Webhook, that is,an HTTP POST request.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of data of the wireless direct functionstart request 604 according to the present embodiment. The wirelessdirect function start request 604 described above with reference to FIG.6 includes the information defined for the action described in FIG. 7.More specifically, it includes entity information of “network”,“method”, and “action”. These pieces of information are expressed asdata in the JSON format. The “device” information is already identifiedat this point, and thus the “device” information does not need to beincluded in the data. In the present embodiment, the wireless directfunction start request 604 is transmitted to the multifunctionperipheral 100 using an XMPP protocol.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of data of the wireless direct functionstart response 605 according to the present embodiment. In “result”, theresult of the wireless direct function start is described. In thepresent embodiment, “success” indicating a success is set in “result”.In “ssid”, “ssid” information related to the multifunction peripheral100 is described. In “password”, network key information related to themultifunction peripheral 100 is described. In the present embodiment,the wireless direct function start response 605 is transmitted to themultifunction peripheral management service 510 using an XMPP protocol.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of data of the wireless direct functionstart response 606 for the connection to the multifunction peripheralaccording to the present embodiment. “displayText” instructs theinteractive agent of the mobile terminal 501 to display a text on thescreen. “speech” instructs the interactive agent of the mobile terminal501 to output a voice/sound. In 1201, a result of the wireless directfunction start is returned in a natural language as a response.

In 1202, SSID and PASSWORD of the multifunction peripheral 100 and acontent of an operation of the mobile terminal 501 are returned in anatural language as a response. In the present embodiment, the wirelessdirect function start response 605 is transmitted, as an HTTP POSTrequest, to the natural language processing and lexical analysis service511.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating a process performed by themultifunction peripheral according to the present embodiment. When themultifunction peripheral 100 receives the wireless direct function startrequest 604 from the multifunction peripheral management service 510(S6004), the multifunction peripheral 100 reads wireless direct settingfrom the storage unit 310 in S1301. In S1301, the multifunctionperipheral 100 determines whether a value of the wireless direct settingis in operation. In a case where it is in operation, then in S1304, themultifunction peripheral 100 reads SSID and PASSWORD information fromthe storage unit 310. If it is not in operation, then in S1303, thewireless direct communication control unit 301 of the multifunctionperipheral 100 starts the wireless direct communication. Thereafter, themultifunction peripheral 100 performs the process in S1304 describedabove. Next, in S1305, the XMPP communication control unit 304 of themultifunction peripheral 100 returns, as a response, a result of thewireless direct function start to the multifunction peripheralmanagement service 510. S1304 corresponds to S6005.

Embodiment 2

In EMBODIMENT 1, it is allowed to arbitrarily specify displaying a texton the screen or outputting a voice/sound as the outputting performed bythe interactive agent of the mobile terminal 501. However, in a casewhere the output data includes confidential data such as PASSWORD, it isdesirable not to use a voice in outputting. In EMBODIMENT 2, the abovesituation is taken into account.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of data of the wireless direct functionstart response 605 according to EMBODIMENT 2. In “result”, the result ofthe wireless direct function start is described. In the presentembodiment, “success” indicating a success is set in “result”, In“ssid”, “ssid” information related to the multifunction peripheral 100is described. In “password” (1401), key information related to themultifunction peripheral 100 is described. Furthermore, information“secured” is also described to indicate whether or not theabove-described pieces of information are secure. In the presentembodiment, the output data includes the password, and thus “true” isset in “secured” (1402).

In the present embodiment, the wireless direct function start response605 is transmitted to the multifunction peripheral management service510 using an XMPP protocol. After the process from S6001 to S6004 isperformed, 605 is issued in S6005.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of data of the wireless direct functionstart response 606 of the multifunction peripheral according toEMBODIMENT 2. In 606-1, a result of the start of the wireless directfunction is returned as a response in a natural language. In 606-2, theSSID and PASSWORD of the multifunction peripheral 100 and the content ofthe operation on the mobile terminal 501 are returned as a response in anatural language.

The multifunction peripheral management service 510 analyzes thewireless direct function start response 605, shown in FIG. 14, receivedin S6005. As a result, “Secure” tag 1402 is found. Thus, it isdetermined that the received information related to 605 is secure.Therefore, “displayText” is specified such that outputting of avoice/sound is not allowed and only outputting of text on the screen isallowed as the method of outputting to the interactive agent of themobile terminal 501 (FIG. 15).

Embodiment 3

In EMBODIMENT 2, outputting of text on a screen or outputting of a voiceis automatically selected as the method of the outputting performed bythe interactive agent of the mobile terminal 501 depending on whether605 includes confidential data or not. Embodiment 3 discloses an examplein which the multifunction peripheral 100 has setting for controllingthe method of outputting performed by the interactive agent, and issuesan instruction to the multifunction peripheral management service 510according to the setting.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen for setting, onthe multifunction peripheral 100, the output method to be employed bythe interactive agent according to EMBODIMENT 3. On this setting screen,voice/sound outputting and text outputting can be set to be enabled ordisabled as the output method. This setting screen is displayed on theoperation unit 102 of the multifunction peripheral 100.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of data of the wireless direct functionstart response 605 according to EMBODIMENT 3. 1701 denotes an example ofdata for a case where only text outputting is enabled in FIG. 16. In“output” indicating the output method, only “displayText” is set. 1702denotes an example of data for a case where only the voice/soundoutputting enabled in FIG. 16. In “output” indicating the output method,only “speech” is set. 1703 denotes an example of data for a case whereboth text outputting and voice/sound outputting are enabled in FIG. 16.In “output” indicating the output method, “displayText” and “speech” areset. In a case where “displayText” is specified as the output method,displaying is performed on the mobile terminal, while in a case where“speech” is specified as the output method, a voice/sound response isperformed by the mobile terminal.

That is, in a case where only 1601 in FIG. 16 is ON, 1702 is output,while in a case where only 1602 is ON, 1701 is output. In a case whereboth 1501 and 1502 are ON, 1703 is output.

1701 to 1703 are transmitted from the multifunction peripheral 100 tothe multifunction peripheral management service 510 in S5005 in FIG. 6.Then, they are further transmitted to 511. 511 controls 501 to performprocessing according to 1701 to 1703.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart illustrating a process of the multifunctionperipheral management service 510 according to EMBODIMENT 3. Uponreceiving the wireless direct function start response 605 describedabove with reference to FIG. 17, the multifunction peripheral managementservice 510 analyzes the received start response 505 in S1801. Next, themultifunction peripheral management service 510 generates a responsemessage in S1802. More specifically, in the case of the example in FIG.17, the response message is “The wireless direct function of Printer1has been started. Connect to the following access point by selecting“Setting→i-Fi” on the mobile terminal. SSID: CanonPrinter PASSWORD:1234567890”.

Next, in S1803, the multifunction peripheral management service 510determines whether or not “speech” is specified in “output” included inthe wireless direct function start response 605. The output means is setin “output”, in a case where “speech” is specified, speech is set as theoutput method of the response message in S1804. As a result, speech isadded to the response message.

Next, in S1805, the multifunction peripheral management service 510determines whether or not “displayText” is specified in “output”included in the wireless direct function start response 605. In a casewhere “displayText” is specified, displayText is set as the outputmethod of the response message in S1806. As a result, displayText isadded to the response message.

Next, the multifunction peripheral management service 510 transmits theresponse message generated in S1807, as the wireless direct functionstart response 606 of the multifunction peripheral, to the naturallanguage processing and lexical analysis service 511.

Each time the wireless direct function start response 605 is received,FIG. 18 is executed. As described also in FIG. 8, 802 and 804 areprocessed by the natural language processing and lexical analysisservice 511 and results are returned. That is, they correspond to therepeated processes 601 and 602 in FIG. 6. When the wireless directfunction start response 605 is received and FIG. 18 is executed, then,as a result, 806 and 807 are displayed.

As examples of peripheral devices, the multifunction peripheral 100having a printing function and a printer have been described above.However, the peripheral device may be a communication device such as alaser smartphone. As an example of a setting service capable ofcommunicating with the communication device and configured to perform asetting process on the peripheral device, the multifunction peripheralmanagement service 510 has been described above. As examples of thesetting information, 7002 to 7005 in FIG. 7 have been described. Asexamples of the natural language information, 801 to 807 in FIG. 8 havebeen described. Note that particular setting information to be set inthe multifunction peripheral 100 is identified from the input naturallanguage information.

If a case where the particular setting information to be set in themultifunction peripheral 100 is not identified in the message of naturallanguage information, then, in order to obtain the unidentified settinginformation, a response expressed in a natural language is sent to theinteractive agent program. The natural language processing and lexicalanalysis service 511 is an example of the interactive agent program.

When the natural language processing and lexical analysis service 511outputs a response in the natural language, information based on thenatural language input to the service 511 is obtained.

Then, the unidentified setting information is discriminated based on theinformation obtained based on the input. The resultant identifiedinformation and the discriminated information are input to themultifunction peripheral management service 510.

The service 511 repeatedly transmits a response in a natural language tothe mobile terminal 501 until a particular number of pieces of settinginformation are obtained. The particular number of pieces of settinginformation include a print destination. The particular number of piecesof setting information include setting information related to wirelesscommunication.

When the identified information and the discriminated information areinput to the multifunction peripheral management service 510, thewireless access point in the multifunction peripheral 100 is enabled tocommunicate. Information for communicating with the wireless accesspoint in the multifunction peripheral 100 may be output to the service511. These processes can be executed by a CPU in the system, that is, acomputer.

By allowing an interactive agent and a multifunction peripheral tooperate using a service on a cloud, it becomes possible to operate themultifunction peripheral in a natural language. This makes it possiblefor a user to easily operate the multifunction peripheral and the mobileterminal.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above,but various changes and modifications are possible without departingfrom the spirit and the scope of the present invention. In order to makethe scope of the present invention public, the following claims areattached.

While the present invention has been described with reference toexemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of thefollowing claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all such modifications and equivalent structures andfunctions.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system capable of communicating with aperipheral device and configured to provide a setting service ofperforming a setting process on the peripheral device, the systemcomprising: identifying means configured to identify, in input naturallanguage information, a particular setting information to be set in theperipheral device; response means configured such that in a case wherethe particular setting information to be set in the peripheral device isnot identified in the natural language information, the response meansresponds in a natural language to an interactive agent program to obtainthe unidentified setting information; acquisition means configured to,after the response in the natural language given by the response meansis output from the interactive agent program, acquire information basedon the natural language information input to the interactive agentprogram; discrimination means configured to discriminate, based on theinformation acquired by the acquisition means, the setting informationunidentified by the identifying means, and input means configured toinput the information identified by the identifying means and theinformation discriminated by the discrimination means to the settingservice of the peripheral device.
 2. The system according to claim 1,wherein the response means repeatedly transmits a response in thenatural language to the interactive agent program until a plurality ofpieces of particular setting information are obtained.
 3. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the particular setting informationincludes a print destination.
 4. The system according to claim 1,wherein the particular setting information is setting informationrelated to wireless communication.
 5. The system according to claim 4,further comprising output means configured such that in response ofinputting of the information identified by the identifying means and theinformation discriminated by the discrimination means to the settingservice, a wireless access point of the peripheral device is enabled tocommunicate, and information for communicating with the wireless accesspoint of the peripheral device is output to the interactive agentprogram.
 6. A method of controlling a system, the system being capableof communicating with a peripheral device and configured to provide asetting service of performing a setting process on the peripheraldevice, the method comprising: identifying, in input natural languageinformation, a particular setting information to be set in theperipheral device; responding such that in a case where the particularsetting information to be set in the peripheral device is not identifiedin the natural language information, a response is made in the naturallanguage to an interactive agent program to obtain the unidentifiedsetting information; acquiring, after the response in the naturallanguage given by the response means is output from the interactiveagent program, information based on the natural language informationinput to the interactive agent program; discriminating, based on theinformation acquired by the acquisition means, the setting informationunidentified by the identifying means; and inputting the informationidentified by the identifying means and the information discriminated bythe discrimination means to the setting service of the peripheraldevice.
 7. The method of controlling the system according to claim 6,wherein the response in the natural language to the interactive agentprogram is repeatedly transmitted until a plurality of pieces ofparticular setting information are obtained.
 8. The method ofcontrolling the system according to claim 7, wherein the particularsetting information includes a print destination.
 9. The method ofcontrolling the system according to claim 7, wherein the particularsetting information is setting information related to wirelesscommunication.
 10. The method of controlling the system according toclaim 9, further comprising performing outputting such that in responseof inputting of the identified information and the discriminatedinformation to the setting service, a wireless access point of theperipheral device is enabled to communicate, and information forcommunicating with the wireless access point of the peripheral device isoutput to the interactive agent program.